Eijun ducked a neon green glob as it flew toward his face. On immediate contact with the ground, the acid hissed as fumes rose from the slow-spreading puddle. While he may have avoided one, Eijun still had to jump over another spot of toxic ooze. This wasn't anything new, however, as a good portion of the floor now had a rancid layer of acid. The toxic puddles themselves had quickly grown to be a problem with how frequently they were shot out from all orifices of the toads.

The battle initially began nice and organized, per usual. They divided into teams to focus on each toad. Miyuki and Yui made first contact with their designated boss as the whole team began the assault to whittle the damned things down. The melee struggled quite a bit, what with the natural poisonous slime that coated the toad's bumpy flesh, causing any who made direct contact to suffer from their toxin. Eijun spent a good portion of time bouncing around from melee to melee, in an attempt to cleanse them all repeatedly.

Eijun was the only one who technically didn't have a designated team that he was attached to. As a pseudo-healer, his main role was to watch everyone, heal or cleanse when necessary, avoid stray attacks, and most important of all, not die. Eijun had been doing a rather dandy job of it too. It was made easy by an ability through Tsubu that spreads shiny spores the size of a leather ball across the room. Whenever someone needed a top-up on health, all they had to do was get in contact with the nearest spore, and it would heal them by a small portion. After that, the spore would fizzle out and die, which tended to leave the ones furthest away from the action available when the convenient spores were claimed first.

That was when the ability, Spores, use ran out. While it came in handy whenever Eijun couldn't get to someone immediately, it wasn't reliable if someone was on the brink of death. If anything, it may delay the inevitable, or buy time until a potion or Eijun was available. And with the way everyone had been in a constant state of poison, Eijun has been stuck cleansing every single member of the team, right until they get inflicted again.

Rinse and repeat.

Of course, Eijun threw in the occasional heal in between cleanses, and thankfully, those he could do en masse. This means he had AOE heals, which cut out a lot of time in comparison. Though ideally, Eijun had planned to do some attacking in between his need to keep the team alive, but alas, he didn't have even a second to make an attempt.

Some of his attacks through Tsubu look cool with the earth theme, especially the ones that manipulate roots, ripping them out of the ground to do his bidding. There were others, however, that left a lot to be desired. The skill, Veil, for instance. With Ume, it created a pocket of wind that blocked all ranged attacks, with Aoi, it formed a dome of water. But with Tsubu...he created petals that delicately floated through the air around Eijun. Thankfully, the petals hold the same effectiveness at deflecting ranged attacks in comparison with Ume's and Aoi's versions. It just didn't look anywhere near as epic.

"Sawamura! Cleanse!" Azuma yelled. His voice easily carried through the expansive space. Eijun's head darted around, eyes scanning the utter chaos that had swiftly unfolded.

As it turned out, the toads didn't give two shits about tanks or threat levels, as they indiscriminately attacked anyone they wanted. This led to their perfectly coordinated teams to fall apart as everyone had been forced to turn tail abruptly and run at some point. All concrete plans had been thrown carelessly out the window and became a free-for-all.

Attack when a chance was given, otherwise run and avoid the poisonous puddles. Simple. Easy.

Annoying.

Eijun finally managed to locate Azuma on the complete opposite side of the area, nearly hidden behind the blue-ringed toad. He couldn't help but let out a sigh of frustration, "Why are you so far?" Eijun mumbled to himself, before sprinting off in an attempt to get closer and a clearer shot. He dodged around puddles, half his attention locked on spying safe sections of the floor, while the other part kept an eye on Azuma, just in case he moved.

It would be nice if people made at least some effort to reach Eijun, instead of him being forced to run around and go to them. Especially when said person was perfectly well and capable, considering he had seen Azuma leap over toxic goo to display just how agile he currently was.

But whatever, Eijun would make the trip regardless; not that he had much of a choice in the matter, anyway. He just needed to get a tad bit closer with a clear angle, then Eijun could move on.

Tsubu squee's in excitement where he hovers next to Eijun's head; little stubby legs running as if he were on flat ground. Eijun had quickly discovered that Tsubu absolutely adored combat, head swiveling around to take in all the action. It's rather ironic considering Tsubu wasn't combat oriented in the slightest.

Eijun skidded to an abrupt stop, nearly falling backward as another blob splatted onto the stone floor right in front of him. Several drops made contact with the legs of his leather trousers, where the acidic slime swiftly burned holes through the material and then his skin. A sharp hiss rushed passed his lips before he turned an annoyed glance in Tsubu's direction, who, at the moment, was cheering on Yuuki and Kominato with unintelligible trills and squeaks.

In a bout of frustration, Eijun lifted a hand and snapped his fingers next to Tsubu's head, "Focus," he gritted out once Tsubu finally turned to regard Eijin, eyes comically round and innocent. Silently, Eijun simply gestured toward his legs where the acid continued to eat away at his pants and skin. Tsubu peered down, a nubby hand pressed to the side of his head. He makes an 'oooo' sound as the bud growing atop his head begins to glow a soft amber. Seconds later, the luminescence transferred to Eijun, completely encompassing his body as the pain rapidly subsided, and the low-building nausea from the poison effect faded.

"Sawamura!" Azuma shouted.

"I'm coming!" Eijun hollered back, sending one last warning glare to Tsubu before he dashed off, taking care not to slip in goo along the way.

At first, Eijun thought Tsubu was cool, and while Eijun was slightly disappointed he wasn't another DPS summon, he quickly got over it at the prospect of learning something different. That was, of course, before Eijun discovered that Tsubu was easily distracted during combat. Eijun had the benefit of being automatically healed by Tsubu, while Eijun focused on the rest of the team, yet that was only if Tsubu was paying attention. Eijun shook his head in exasperation as he ran; he felt like he was stuck babysitting a toddler who didn't listen.

After dodging around a few more puddles, Eijun found a relatively decent spot where he would be close enough as well as have a clear shot of Azuma, as long as he didn't move. Did this mean Eijun now stood out in the open? Yes, yes it did.

Eijun's hand began to illuminate in the same soft amber as he drew upon Tsubu's power. With a snap of his fingers, he instantaneously transferred the light upon Azuma, effectively cleansing him of poison.

Both bosses had managed to stay relatively in the center of the room, despite all efforts to separate them at the beginning. Initially, Eijun himself had been wanting to skirt along the edge, not wanting too many directions to manage. Of course, maintaining that position hadn't been successful, with how frequently he had to move. Which further added to all their plans being a bust.

Currently, everyone has been attacking whichever toad they happen to be nearest, in between avoiding the random assault the bosses dished out. There was no rhyme or reason for who was targeted. They didn't focus on tanks, or aim at whoever was furthest away like many other bosses tended to do. The toads could be fighting someone, then do a sudden one-eighty to launch poison at another person. They've all had to stay on their toes, unsure when they'll be picked next.

There had been a short stint where the yellow-ringed toad had it out specifically for Shirasu. Where every other attack had been aimed at Shirasu, forcing him in a state of tuck-and-roll. It got to the point where they had been trying to deduce why, that maybe there was, in fact, some sort of pattern. But then the toad suddenly stopped its bullying and divided its attention sporadically once again.

"Heads up!" Miyuki shouted. Eijun quickly turned his focus toward the bosses and noticed immediately what was happening. The blue-ringed toad was in the process of squishing the entirety of its body to the ground, and like a spring, it launched itself skyward. Thanks to the tall ceilings, the toad had quite a bit of room to maneuver.

As one, they all tilted their heads up, eyeing the toad to help predict where it would land this time. Eijun craned his head further back and his stomach sank. It very much appeared to be aimed in his direction.

"Oh no," Eijun muttered, his gaze darted side-to-side in a panic to seek out his best escape route. Logically, as he was out in the open, he had a multitude of options, but there lay the problem. There were too many options for him to choose from.

Out of his peripherals, he watched as the shadow traveled along the ground, moving closer and bigger as the toad neared its end-point and gravity began to take hold. Eijun came to an abrupt halt as he belatedly recalled the change in his ability, Shroud. While his other summons created a temporary barrier around Eijun, Tsubu, however, had altered the effects.

The shadow by now was completely overheard, increasing in size, blotting out the light as the source began its descent. Just before the toad could land and squash Eijun like a measly bug, he activated Shroud. This formed a giant seeded dandelion, the stem held firmly in both of Eijun's hands. The round white puff stood above his head, rather like an umbrella to shield from rain, though a plant was significantly weaker in comparison. On immediate impact, the dandelion exploded in a burst of its seeds, scattering them outward while a small clump took Eijun with it, and carried him to safety.

Another bonus with this version of Shroud was that it also granted Eijun several seconds of stealth, a rare talent only observed through assassins. Though, unlike an assassin, if Eijun were to use any other ability before the stealth naturally wore off, it would immediately break, casting the shadows off Eijun and revealing him to the light once more. While that wasn't a huge deal in some cases, the stealth could buy Eijun precious seconds to travel further away from danger undetected if need be.

The toad's impact was large, as it kicked up a layer of dust and splattered ooze outward. The gust created an updraft that knocked Eijun higher upward as he currently weighed no more than one of the seeds that clung to him. The sensation was odd, as Eijun continuously expected to be plummeting down at a moment's notice, yet he drifted leisurely away as if gravity didn't exist.

The toad lay motionless on its belly for several moments as it recovered, all four legs splayed out to the sides. The force of its landing pushed excess slime from its pores, coating the ground around it with a slick layer. Just another hazard for the field and less uncontaminated ground for them to work on.

Eijun lazily floated back down several meters away with Tsubu clutched in his arms, though he currently couldn't see Tsubu or his arms through the stealth, which was rather off-putting. Eijun had to wonder how Kuramochi managed to go through full combat without being able to see his own body. He probably had to work on his spatial awareness on top of just knowing instead of seeing where each part of his body was, which was a weird concept for Eijun.

His feet made contact with solid ground right as the stealth fell away, beginning from his head until the toe of his boots was revealed. Tsubu squirmed out of his hold to retake his position floating by Eijun's head, where he could resume to annoy Eijun for the remainder of the battle.

"You okay, Sawamura?", came Kawakami's voice from somewhere behind Eijun. He whipped around, surprised. Kawakami wasn't looking at Eijun as his poniard sliced through the air and cut a tear that appeared to lead to another dimension, rather like he opened the gates of Hell –albeit a small version. At once, a horde of dark-red spirits flooded out of the tear, and headed straight toward the blue-ringed toad, as it was now closer than its counterpart.

"I'm peachy," Eijun responded absent-mindedly, as he turned to watch the spirits. They wailed and cried in a horrific symphony that Eijun would never get used to hearing; the sounds of the damned. Instead of colliding directly with the toad as one would expect, the spirits absorb themselves into the body of their target. Once all had been infused with the victim, they detonated themselves in a cloud of red mist, effectively harming the enemy from within.

Tsubu 'eeped' in terrified excitement. If his hands were able to reach, he would probably be clapping. Unfortunately for Tsubu, his arms were a little too short, and his belly too round to make that happen.

"Cleanse!" Isashiki called out.

Eijun sighed and turned back to Kawakami to cast a quick cleanse on him, regardless if it was needed, just to save him a trip back in this direction for the time being.

"I gotta go," Eijun grumbled before he darted off. Fortunately, Isashiki was nearby as he had followed the blue-ringed toad after it launched itself at Eijun.

Eijun traveled further than he expected, but it didn't take long to get within range to cure Isashiki of his poison. Afterward, he got some more spores on the field to help lighten his load. All the back and forth had grown rather tiresome. So before anyone else required Eijun, he quickly pulled out a stamina potion and downed it in three gulps. Within seconds, his tired muscles and labored breathing relaxed, allowing him ease of motion once again.

But of course, no sooner than the blue-ringed toad switched things up, its counterpart decided to have a turn and be the main character.

Kuramochi let out a startled shout that was abruptly cut short. When Eijun glanced over, all he witnessed was Kuramochi's legs hanging out of the yellow-ringed toad's mouth, as his feet flailed about uselessly, before those, too, were slurped up into the maw of the toad.

There was a sudden, pregnant pause as everyone processed this new ordeal.

"Well, what the hell do we do about that?" Isashiki was the first to break the silence. He barely finished speaking, when he immediately took a direct slap from the blue-ringed toad, sending him tumbling and rolling to the side like a ragdoll. A rather hilarious sight to witness.

Eijun jogged over to where Isashiki landed in a heap, though he made sure to skirt around the toad, not really inclined to face the same treatment. With a grunt, Isashiki pushed himself up, "That was my bad," he heaved out as he rose to his feet.

It took considerable effort to hold back a laugh, though an awkward chuckle still slipped out as Eijun said, "It was pretty funny though."

"Shut it," Isashiki grumbled and rolled his shoulders, then his neck. Eijun made quick work to offer a heal by implanting a flower atop Isashiki's head. It started as a bud, and as each petal unfurled, it would heal over time, and once it was used up, it would wither and die; shriveling into dust. Everyone was apprehensive at first, with the thought of having a plant sprout from the top of their heads. The skill turned out to be rather effective in healing output, while it allowed Eijun to wander away and let the flower do all the work over a short period of time.

"Everyone on yellow!" Yuuki ordered. As one, they all switched their focus onto the toad that made a snack out of Kuramochi.

There wasn't really a point in keeping someone on the blue-ringed toad, as it would probably choose its target at random, ignoring anyone that was designated to distract it.

All firepower was successfully redirected to the offending toad. This even allowed Eijun to finally get some attacks in of his own, even though they didn't hit nearly as hard as when he had Ume or Aoi summoned, but hey, it's better than nothing. Unfortunately for Eijun, it was short-lived as the blue-ringed toad continued to eject out globs of poison. With the way a good portion of the team either had their backs turned to it, or were too locked on to the yellow one, they suffered direct hits.

Eijun, regrettably, regressed back into healer mode; switching his attention to the bodies of Seido's raid as opposed to either of the bosses. For the time being, Tsubu had been able to multitask, ogling the combat while remembering to cleanse Eijun every now and again.

Even without being directly struck by poison, the amount that already covered the floor created noxious fumes, tainting the very air. Every inhale further added to the buildup of toxins in their bodies, though in a much slower process. Eijun, however, had to remain healthy, thus allowing him to keep the raid in good condition for the remainder of the battle.

When Eijun had done his first preliminary testing of Tsubu, Chris had mentioned that Tsubu's abilities were similar to those of the druid class, with roughly the same healing potential. This in itself was a compliment, though it took Chris having to explain more thoroughly for Eijun to come to the realization. While the best healer class would always be the cleric, though unfortunately, they had abysmal self-sustaining capabilities. This, apparently, was meant to balance out their absurd healing output, as they could be picked off in a raid faster than a sorcerer. Without a well-balanced and experienced team, a cleric was most likely the first to die regardless of dungeon or raid difficulty. People have dubbed clerics as "self-sacrificers" as they'll keep everyone from certain death while leaving themselves vulnerable.

On the other hand, druids were still top-tier healers in their own right, with the added bonus of being more bulky, and able to take more hits. Druids could also transform into other forms that add to their survivability. Some could even act as temporary tanks in case of emergencies. Now, unfortunately, as awesome as that sounded, Eijun could not shapeshift, but having Tsubu allowed Eijun to receive heals without him actually having to make time to cast them upon himself. Plus, he wasn't as likely to be one-shot like a cleric or even a sorcerer.

Chris assured Eijun that it would make him invaluable on the healer front. But again, Eijun had more interest in being a damage dealer than a support. He'll do whatever role was required of him, just as long as he got to remain on the first string; as DPS were easy to come by, thus easy to replace.

With their joint focus on one single toad, it didn't take long for them to swiftly whittle its health down. For the best, as Kuramochi had been settled in its belly for several minutes; his condition unknown.

"Get back!" Miyuki called out. The yellow-ringed toad began to bloat, its body expanded double in size, eyes bulging out of its head. All at once, any who were in range backed off, scurrying around on what little clean floor remained. Not even seconds later, the toad fully exploded in a rancid display of its poisonous guts. Yellow and green goop sprayed across the entirety of the room and forced Eijun to sidestep a hunk of flesh that whizzed by. Mixed in with the innards was Kuramochi, who was launched outward and crash-landed on the ground several meters away, the momentum rolled him farther.

"Sawamura!" Yuuki yelled, crouched in a relatively spotless section as the strangling globs rained down around them.

"I'm on it!" Eijun shouted back, legs already carrying him toward where Kuramochi lay, motionless. He hopped over a puddle, nearly slipped the landing, and quickened his pace to close the distance. Once he reached Kuramochi, Eijun dropped to his knees and hovered both hands over Kuramochi's slime-covered form. Siphoning power through Tsubu, Eijun's palms began to glow a soft green hue. This was a more extensive heal, one that Eijun only wanted to use in extreme cases. The reason being, that this skill required both Eijun and the injured to be stationary for the entire duration, but it was the most effective in his arsenal when it came to healing.

This also left Eijun and Kuramochi as sitting ducks, making the skill itself risky to cast. Ideally, Eijun would prefer to use it outside of combat than worry about leaving himself open. Despite that, Eijun forced himself not to think about anything else, to focus on getting Kuramochi up. They still had several more floors and a whole Boss that needed to be cleared.

Eijun quickly fell into the menial task of being Tsubu's conduit, sifting power through himself and into Kuramochi, clearing out all the toxin, and reviving the skin that was slowly being eaten away by acid, to expedite the recovery. He was so absorbed in healing, that he missed the shadow that had appeared. He did notice it, though. Very belatedly. Eijun violently flinched when he processed it, before he whipped his head around, expecting the worst. There was one remaining toad, and it had already made itself known not to follow standard boss rules by targeting a tank. So in the back of his mind, he was already fully aware that the toad could take aim on Eijun at any moment.

Instead of an attack like he half expected, he was confronted with Miyuki's back. The sight caused an instant wave of relief to wash over him, relaxing his tense muscles. "About damn time," Eijun snipped in an attempt to hide the ease Miyuki's presence had brought upon him.

Miyuki peered backward, with his usual annoying –attractive– smirk, just long enough to say, "Hey, I was working on it," he stabbed the tip of his greatsword into the ground, leaning casually against the hilt while his gaze scanned the room, "I would have been here sooner if the other toad didn't relocate to my position, "Honestly, it was a good thing I hesitated, or else all three of us would have been hit." Miyuki shrugged.

Eijun turned his attention passed Miyuki, taking in the action for the first time since he reached Kuramochi, and sure enough, the blue-ringed toad had moved locations. This also made it significantly closer than if it had remained in its previous spot.

"You could have just used your Safety Circle," Eijun muttered, amping up as much irritation he could muster while ignoring the warmth in his stomach. As Miyuki barked out a surprised laugh, Eijun felt his face grow hot as the realization of what he said set in. He's never actually used "safety circle'" in reference to Miyuki's Ward out loud. Though he should have known this would happen at some point.

"You mean Ward?" Miyuki got out between chuckles, "Well, I could have, but why waste it when I don't need it?"

Okay, fair point.

"Can you guys not flirt over my corpse?" Kuramochi groaned, lifting a hand to his head, though his eyes remained squeezed shut.

At the sound of his voice, Eijun quickly disregarded the contents of what was said, to, instead, focus on the fact that he was awake, "Kuramochi-senpai! How do you feel?"

There's another long groan, "Like I just got eaten by a toad? So like shit?"

Miyuki laughed again though thankfully not at Eijun's expense this time, "Not quite, you weren't in there that long."

"Kindly fuck off, Miyuki," Now Kuramochi squinted open an eye to send a withering glare at Miyuki's back.

"I don't know if you really want that. I'm currently covering you."

"I think I would rather die."

"Easy enough to achieve, you almost managed it yourself," there was a pause before Miyuki briefly peered over his shoulder, "How did you of all people manage to get eaten?"

A good question, Eijun himself was curious. He turned his focus to Kuramochi to await an answer.

Kuramochi sighed, "I got really unlucky apparently. My stealth dropped for one second, and the next thing I knew, I was in the bastard's mouth." Kuramochi lifted both hands, eyes glaring at the slime that coated his fingers, "I need to bathe," he uttered with annoyance.

"There's still the main raid Boss," Eijun helpfully offered.

"Ugh, don't remind me."

None of them said anything after that. Eijun was still trapped fully healing Kuramochi, but he observed the fight from where he was kneeling; watching as the remainder of the team coordinated around the last toad. Every bone in Eijun's body itched to join, though he supposed Miyuki and Kuramochi understood the sentiment just as much.

The toad whipped around and spat a glob of poison their way. Miyuki responded instantly, as he lifted his greatsword to block. The goo smacked against it and splattered harmlessly in a crescent around Miyuki's feet. He jammed the tip back into the ground and resumed his relaxed demeanor.

Seeing the poison brought a question and sudden worry to light, "Will everyone be okay without my cleanse?" Eijun asked, staring up at Miyuki's back.

And of course, Miyuki simply shrugged again, "They'll be alright for now. We all have antidotes, remember?"

That's right, they did, but that was even worse! "Then why was everyone shouting at me for a cleanse? I've been running back and forth this entire time!"

Here, Miyuki half turned to regard him, with a straight face, and nonplussed tone said, "Because the antidotes taste disgusting?"

And if that wasn't the most irritating thing Eijun had heard recently, then he doesn't know what was.

Miyuki didn't even get a chance to fully turn back around before the others called out warnings moments before the last toad exploded in defeat.